News Article

More Informaton On Boingz From RealNetworks

Although the following press release contains the word 'casual' far too many times for our liking, we have to admit we're pretty optimistic about RealNetworks' Boingz. A WiiWare exclusive that promises to captivate players with bendy little creatures and unique motion sensitive gameplay, this game might just give World of Goo a run for its money. See below the fold for some screenshots from this upcoming game.

Boingz to soon be available as Real’s first WiiWare title

SAN FRANCISCO - October 3, 2008 - From Nintendo’s Fall Media Summit, digital entertainment services provider RealNetworks, Inc. (NASDAQ: RNWK) today announced Boingz, its first WiiWare game for the Wii. Designed specifically for the Wii platform and its unique motion controls, Boingz will be available exclusively on WiiWare soon. Marking Real’s entrance into the console market, the game will be shown for the first time today at Nintendo’s Fall Media Summit.

"We are thrilled at Nintendo’s ability to continue bringing countless new fans to casual games with the Wii,” said Matt Turetzky, vice president of content and non-PC platforms in the Games Division of RealNetworks. “With the launch of Boingz, we are taking our casual games to living room consoles for the first time and taking advantage of the unique game play capabilities of the system to craft a casual experience targeted specifically for Wii gamers."

Developed by the award-winning studio NinjaBee and published by Real, Boingz introduces players to bendy, stretchy little critters who’ve found themselves scattered about an alien world. Players must help the Boingz free the rest of their friends and find their way back home by solving a series of addicting, mind-bending puzzles across thirty levels of fun. Using the Wii Remote to grab, stretch and fling the rubber-band bodies of the Boingz, players direct the team one by one to bounce around the environments, traverse the seas and even build bridges with their own bodies. Created exclusively for WiiWare, the single-player world of Boingz is a surreal, colorful landscape that will entertain players of all ages.

“Working with RealNetworks has allowed us to branch out to Nintendo’s Wii and create an innovative new IP with awesome physics and fantastic visuals,” said Steve Taylor, President of NinjaBee. “While we are best known for our collection of titles on other platforms, Nintendo’s WiiWare will bring to life a game that we have wanted to make for a long time and believe fans will truly enjoy.”

RealNetworks' Games Division is a leader in the casual games industry worldwide, with a vertically integrated development, publishing, licensing, distribution and retail business. Casual games are family friendly and easy-to-learn but often difficult to master. In addition to WiiWare, Wii and the Nintendo DS, RealNetworks offers titles for the PC, Mac, and a variety of mobile handsets and portable gaming devices.

“Boingz” will be available soon for download via WiiWare. WiiWare games can be found in the Wii Shop Channel. For more information, go to: http://www.gamehouse.com/wii/.

Darren is Nintendo Life’s Batman: fearless in the face of danger, he loves gadgets and talking in a really, really deep voice. As Operations Director he stays mostly behind the scenes in a room he insists on calling “The Batcave”.

@BlackFira: The graphics do look poor, but I think the whole concept I'd built up in my head totally went out of the window when I saw what exactly the gameplay was going to look like.@Ferret75: Don't insult Frontier. LW looks much better.

And just so y'all know, I'm not just saying the graphics look bad because of the excessive colour use. I'm not like those 360 "brown is cool!" fanboys.

Can't say much for the graphics, but hey, it is in development. Interesting art style, though. I also noticed that is has the same screenshot twice! Well, I guess it's time to actually read the article now.